Qatar Tribune - Gulf MiddleEast

Rio de Janeiro: Brazil has surpassed India as the world’s country with the second-highest coronavirus caseload, according to official figures.The Health Ministry in Brasilia said 85,663 new coronavirus infections were reported on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 11,363,380 - compared to around 11,333,000 in India, which had previously occupied the second spot. The Health Ministry...

AFPColomboUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China’s Communist government a “predator” on Wednesday as he sought to tempt Sri Lanka away from Beijing’s influence and later bolstered the US diplomatic presence in the neighbouring Maldives to counter the Asian superpower.Sri Lanka and the Maldives, both strategically located on key Indian Ocean trade routes, have borrowed heavily from...

AFPQamishliThe Kurdish-led forces controlling northeast Syria on Thursday freed more than 600 Syrian prisoners detained over links to the Islamic State jihadist group.The 631 detainees had been held on terrorism charges and were the first batch released in an amnesty deal announced recently following calls from Arab tribes in eastern Syria.The Kurdish administration in northeast Syria hold tens of...

AFPNEW YORKSaudi Arabia failed in its bid to become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday as China and Russia were elected to three-year terms. Human rights groups hailed the snub to Riyadh, which deals a blow to the kingdom’s attempts to improve its image in the international community.“The #HRC elections today delivered a stunning rebuke to #SaudiArabia under...

AFPBaghdadIraq’s health ministry said on Wednesday that more than 10,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the country whose threadbare health sector has been battered by the virus.Iraq has registered more than 413,000 cases, and the total death toll now stands at 10,021, the ministry said. Baghdad recently lifted restrictions and reopened mosques, shops and cafes but has kept its borders closed...

NAQURA: Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, held unprecedented talks under UN and US auspices on Wednesday to settle a maritime border dispute and clear the way for oil and gas exploration within “reasonable time”.In a joint statement afterwards, the United States and the United Nations said the talks had been “productive” and that the delegates had “reaffirmed their commitment...

AFPTehranIran on Wednesday announced temporary travel restrictions on five major cities including Tehran as the country hit new single-day records in both COVID-19 deaths and new infections.As well as the capital, the measures include banning travel to and from Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan and Urmia, the health ministry’s Kianoush Jahanpour told state television.It runs from midnight until Sunday...

Tribune News NetworkDohaPEOPLE in Jordan are demanding tougher laws to punish the perpetrators of a brutal assault on a 16-year-old boy that caused widespread outrage across the country.The hideous crime happened in Zarqa city, east of Amman, on Tuesday. The teenager was brutally assaulted by a group of men who chopped off both his hands and mutilated his face, apparently in revenge for a murder...

AFPDamascusSyrian President Bashar al-Assad declared a national catastrophe on Tuesday after inspecting crops destroyed by wildfires that have ravaged his country’s Mediterranean coastal belt.As many as 25,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, the United Nations said, in a new blow for a region which is a mainstay of support for Assad’s government.The fires, which broke out in...

DPABeirut/Tel AvivLebanese President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday that maritime border talks with Israel will tackle “technical issues only,” indicating it is not a step toward a normalisation of ties.“The negotiations will be technical and talks should be limited to this particular issue only,” Aoun was quoted as saying by his office on the eve of the discussions. He held separate...